Asian Heritage Month Lecture: "Immigration and Illegality in the American Historical Imagination"

The United States is often described as a nation of immigrants, a characterization that erases the history of indigenous people to the formation of the nation. At the same time, many Americans harbor intense fears about "the huddled masses" and "the wretched refuse" from other shores. In this multi-media presentation, Dr. Judy Wu, Associate Professor of History and Coordinator for the Asian American Studies Program, the Ohio State University, will explore the historical origins and contemporary manifestations of how the U.S. became a “gatekeeping” nation. It focuses on the groups, many of them racialized, that the U.S. government and people have sought to exclude and restrict to socially engineer ideal Americans.